In his Beef & Business column, University of Idaho Extension beef specialist Jason Ahola digs into new research that suggests it may be more economical and efficient to develop replacement heifers to smaller weights. Rather than 65% of their mature body weight, which is the traditional rule, studies indicate 53-58% of mature body weight may be sufficient.

At the Padlock Ranch in Wyoming Trey Patterson has been experimenting with this for the last few years and believes it builds better, more efficient range females.

In this age of expensive corn - and even rising pasture rents - perhaps smaller is better.

December is nearly here and for many cattle folks that means calving season is within view. I’m looking for readers input on what you do on your operation to make calving season run smoothly. How do you keep calves warm? Prevent frozen ears? Minimize scours outbreaks?

Growing up on a farm, my dad always had one trick to try and prevent cows from calving at nite. He always fed a bale of hay at about dusk. He believed the cows were busy eating and then ruminating in the nite, so they didn’t go into labor until the morning. I have to admit, it seemed to work pretty well. We didn’t have too many night-time babies.